


Immersion

by DeanLantern



Category: DCU (Comics), Green Lantern - All Media Types, The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 15:16:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16065815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeanLantern/pseuds/DeanLantern
Summary: Barry has an anxiety attack and Hal is there for him.That's basically all this is...





	Immersion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chimchiri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chimchiri/gifts).



> This is in a way a slightly longer version of a "get well soon" card for chim because they're a really nice and cool person. :)

When Hal had woken up, Barry had still been fast asleep right next to him in their bed. His hand had subconsciously started reaching for the unruly strands of hair that had fallen over Barry's forehead and tried to gently push them out of his face before he placed a soft kiss where they had just been. Barry scrunched up his nose and grumbled a bit but stayed asleep. Quietly chuckling, Hal decided to get them breakfast from that one restaurant next to the police station that Barry loved so much.

When Hal came back about 40 minutes later, he found Barry curled up on the couch with his hands wrapped tightly around his legs and his head pressed to his knees. Barry also seemed to just  _blur_  around the edges which was a pretty good indicator that Barry must have slipped into relative time again, probably without even fully noticing. 

Hal quickly took off his boots and jacket and set the bag with their food down on the kitchen counter before he approached Barry in their living room. He walked around the couch, crouched down in front of his boyfriend and carefully placed is hands on Barry's shins. From what he could see of Barry's posture and facial expression, he looked distressed and jittery and even a bit afraid. It didn't really matter how many minutes it had been since Barry had started feeling like this because for him it must have felt like years. 

It took a few moments for Barry to realize someone was touching him and another second to recognize Hal looking up at him from his position in front of the couch. 

"Hey." Hal whispered softly.

"Hey." Barry croaked back and Hal's heart broke a little right along with Barry's voice.

One of his thumbs started rubbing circles into Barry's leg in an attempt to soothe him a bit.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

Barry tried to hide his face as well as he could in his own shoulder and seemed to curl up even tighter. At least, he had stopped vibrating and was once again in the present with him. 

Hal's hands wandered up Barry's legs as he sat up, pulled himself onto the couch as well and Barry into his lap. Barry squirmed around a bit before he was seated sideways in Hal's lap with both his hands grabbing Hal's shirt tightly and his head tucked under Hal's chin. One of Hal's hands wrapped around his waist while the other started running through the soft hair at the back of Barry's head. They sat like that for a short while, just breathing together before Barry shakily tried to play it down."

"It's just my brain being stupid again."

Hal frowned and nosed the top of Barry's head until he looked up.

"Hey. Nothing about you is stupid. Anxiety and fear are not stupid."

Barry didn't reply but his look expressed exactly what he thought.

"Okay, Olli's fear of balloons does worry me a bit but we all agreed that porcelain dolls  _are_  Satan incarnate and are going to one day just suddenly murder every single human and take over the earth."

Barry tucked his head back under Hal's chin and gave Hal the perfect opportunity to bury his nose in Barry's hair. He had showered yesterday evening and faintly smelled of the melon scented shampoo he had gotten from Iris for his birthday. While Hal was still wondering whether Barry's hair would also taste of melon were he to lick it, he could hear the thoughts spinning around again in Barry's head.

"Stop thinking so much."

Hal kissed him on the crown of his head and Barry's reply came back muffled from where he was pushing his nose into Hal's chest.

"Easy to say. It feels like I can't even really control it."

Hal knew exactly what that felt like.

"Yeah, I know. Like a current that keeps pulling you away from the shore and the more you fight against it, the stronger its grip on you seems to get until your head gets pushed under the water and you feel like you're close to drowning. And from under the water you can see all these other people floating easily on the surface and they keep telling you to just breathe. But if you open your mouth all the water is just going to get inside until it filled up your lungs and makes you sink even faster."

Maybe he'd hit a bit too close to home seeing as he could feel Barry trying to take deep breaths against his chest. The hand around his waist went up and started stroking Barry's back.

"You helped me through a panic attack before, Bar. I know this feeling and that it's not just going to suddenly disappear from one moment to the next no matter what I do or say. It takes time. But you're not alone in this. I'm here for you, Bar. And so are Iris and Wally and Bart and Jay and I'm pretty sure even Bats likes you. Hell, even your villains like you!"

Another gentle kiss to the top of his head and Barry trying to control his breathing seemed to help a bit since he seemed to calm down a little. His death grip on Hal's shirt lessened as well.

"Right now, we're all safe, Barry. You don't need to save anyone or even do anything today. There's just this incredibly handsome guy who would love to spend the entire day with this beautiful blond he luckily ended up with in a relationship without any idea about how he actually did it. Maybe have a nice bath together in the evening after serving his hubby the meal of his lifetime."

"Hubby?" Barry whispered and his breath tickled the sensitive skin under Hal's clavicle but Hal ignored him and tried to recall other things that had helped him before and would maybe help his boyfriend as well.

"Whenever I'm having a bad day, I go looking for TV shows were everyone is just really nice to each other or even something for little kids."

Hal could feel the slow curving of Barry's smile being pressed into the skin over his shirt collar and he shortly stopped petting his hair to lightly drag his nails over his skull as a playful warning.

"Hey, don't judge me. Some of them are really soothing and cute and it's not like I don't have to watch them anyway whenever I'm babysitting Jimmy's kids."

One of Barry's hands let go of his shirt and found Hal's hand in his hair to wrap around. 

"I didn't mean to insult you. It's just really adorable that a grown-up man still loves cartoons as much as you do."

The corner of Hal's mouth and one of his eyebrows shot up.

"Grown-up is pretty debatable. You up for some space stuff with the alien guy?"

Whatever had triggered the anxiety attack wasn't over yet but Hal hoped they'd just conquered the worst of it.

Barry slightly turned his head and kissed the hollow of Hal's throat which made Hal shiver before he could stop himself.

"I know you know his actual name, Hal. But yeah, sounds great."

Barry tried to find a somewhat more comfortable position on Hal's lap and rested his head against his broad shoulder so he could still see the TV where Hal put up an episode of Cosmos with Hal's arms wrapped around him.


End file.
